Olympian Nights eBook

And with this I went to the door, feeling, I must
confess, a trifle ill. The steak and coffee were
all right, but there was a suggestion of pain in my
right side. I could not make up my mind if it
were the six hundred melons or whether a nugget from
the omelet had got caught in my vermiform appendix.

At any rate, I didn’t wish to eat again just
then.

At the door the sedan-chair and the two little blackamoors
were awaiting me.

“We have orders to take you to the Zoo, sah,”
said Sambo.

“All right, Sambo,” said I. “I’m
all ready. A little air will do me good.”

And we moved along.

I forgot to mention that, as he closed the chair door
upon me, Memnon handed me back the silver dollar I
had given him.

“What is this, Memnon?” said I.

“The dollar you wished me to keep for you, sir,”
he replied.

“But I intended it for you,” said I.

His face flushed.

“I am just as much obliged, sir, but, really,
I couldn’t, you know. We don’t take
tips in Olympus, sir.”

“Indeed?” said I. “Well—­I’m
sorry to have offended you, Memnon. I meant it
all right. Why didn’t you tell me when I
gave it you?”

“I should have given you a check for it, sir.
I supposed you didn’t wish to carry anything
so heavy about with you.”

“Ah!” said I, replacing the dollar in
my pocket. “Thank you for your care of
it, Memnon. No offence, I hope?”

“None at all, sir,” he replied, again
showing his wonderful ivory teeth. “I don’t
take offence at anything so trifling. Had you
handed me a billion dollars, I should have declined
to wait on you.”

And he bowed me away in a fashion which made me feel
keenly the narrowness of my escape.

VII

AEsculapius, M.D.

We had not gone very far along when the pain in my
side became poignant and I called out of the window
to Sambo:

“Sammy, is there a doctor anywhere on the way
out to the Zoo?” I asked.

“Yassir,” he replied, slowing down a trifle.
“We gotter go right by de doh ob Dr. Skilapius.”

“Doctor who?” I asked—­the name
was new to me.

“’Tain’t Skill-apius,”
growled the boy behind, who seemed rather jealous
that I had taken no notice of him. “It’s
Eee-skill-apius.”

“Oh,” said I, beginning to catch their
drift. “Dr. AEsculapius. Is that what
you are trying to say?”

“Yassir,” said both boys. “Dass
de man.”

“Well, stop at his office a moment,” said
I. “I’m feeling a trifle ill.”

In a few minutes we drew up before a large door to
the right of the corridor before which there hung
a shingle marked in large gilt letters: